1. Poll Taxes: Southern states imposed poll taxes, which required citizens to pay a fee to vote. This disproportionately affected poor African Americans, who often could not afford the fee.
2. Literacy Tests: Literacy tests were also used as a means of disenfranchisement. These tests were often designed to be difficult or confusing, and they were administered in a way that made it challenging for African Americans to pass them, even if they were literate.
3. All-White Primaries: Southern states held "all-white" primaries, which excluded African Americans from participating in the candidate selection process. This effectively ensured that only white candidates were nominated and elected to office.
4. Grandfather Clauses: Grandfather clauses exempted from disenfranchisement laws any individual whose grandfather had voted before the passage of the 15th Amendment, which granted African American men the right to vote. Since most African Americans' ancestors had been enslaved before 1870, this exemption excluded a large portion of the African American population from voting.
5. Gerrymandering: Southern states gerrymandered electoral districts to dilute African American voting strength. This involved drawing district lines in a way that scattered African American voters across multiple districts, reducing their chances of electing representatives of their choice.
6. Intimidation and Violence: African Americans who attempted to exercise their right to vote faced intimidation and violence from groups like the Ku Klux Klan. This included threats, physical violence, and even lynchings.
These methods were used systematically to disenfranchise African Americans and maintain a system of racial segregation and discrimination in the Southern states for many years.